Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

"Okay, this is not Mahogany Town... this is Goldenrod City... we went the wrong way."

Naruto got them lost, maybe, but regardless of who got them lost, the fact was they were now in the more industrial town of Goldenrod city. There were many explanations for why they could have gotten so lost, but the fact was, no explanation matter at all on how they got so lost.

They walked in a giant circle.

Meaning to get to Mahogany Town, they would need to go BACK through Ecruteak, which they were not looking forward to.

"You did this on purpose so you could get another chance at the geisha show."

"... Maybe this wasn't a bad thing." Naruto changed his mind on a second visit to the cursed city, and while Bea punched him in the ribs, she got her confirmation that he did not get them lost on purpose. He seemed genuine in changing his mind about the silver lining to their situation, meaning he had not been considering the geisha when they got lost. She did see the map in Naruto's hands, and she grabbed the map with a swift motion, before folding it up and putting it in her own bag.

Naruto was not great at reading maps it would seem, so she would take that responsibility onto herself from now on. Petilil stared at her when she took the map so violently, before nodding her little head over it.

Naruto scratched his neck awkwardly.

"So... should we leave... or what?" Naruto didn't mind staying in the city for a little bit. Bea considered it as she looked at the tall buildings, a few stores, and the Pokemon Gym that was visible from their current location. Bea crossed her arms as she considered that as an option for what she could do. He followed her eyes, and he looked towards the large gym that was in the area, and he just crossed his arms. "... want to go challenge that gym?"

"Only if you do." Bea stated as she looked away.

Petilil looked towards her trainer, and Naruto poked her between the eyes a couple of times as he considered it.

...

"... So... what exactly is the point of challenging the gyms?" Naruto asked, since the concept of it didn't make a ton of sense to him. He didn't see the point or reason for doing it, other than to compare how strong your team was to another team.

Bea's lips dipped down.

"It is a test of your skills, against the skills of one who has proven themselves capable. In Galar, what used to be the Fighting Gym became the Ghost Gym now since it got taken over. It is a sport, and the Gym leader is the best athlete in the area... I hear that in Kanto, the Fighting Gym leader there lost his position to a Psychic trainer." Bea couldn't help but feel frustrated at how many times the fighting gym leaders would lose their gyms to other types. Psychic made sense, but she did not like how her chosen type had lost to the ghost type in her home region.

She looked at her companion, who just crossed his arms, glanced towards the gym, before smiling and sending her a thumbs up. He took a Oddish's pokeball from his waist, and he passed it to Bea, who looked down at it with confusion.

Why?

"Why don't you take Oddish with you and let him battle... we can meet up later if you want. There is something I want to do... something I have always wanted to try... and I bet this city has it." Naruto rubbed his hands together with a grin on his face as a nasty idea came to his mind. Bea raised an eyebrow, before she let Oddish out of the pokeball and it landed on her shoulder. Oddish looked at his trainer, nodded a affirmative, before looking at Bea.

"Why?" Bea asked out loud this time.

"I think it would be good for Oddish, learn how another trainer does battle. Get him experience with somebody else... and I trust you." Naruto stated to Bea with his reasoning. Bea nodded her head slowly.

That made no sense to her.

She took out one of her pokeballs, before she looked at it.

"Here... I'll use Heracross and Oddish." Bea handed her Machoke over to Naruto with a nod. It was only fair that if Naruto gave her Oddish for the day, that she would give him her Machoke to let it gain some experiencer too. She didn't know what Naruto wanted to do, but she was going to trust his advice at the very least.

Even if she didn't understand it.

Naruto took her pokeball.

"I'll see you after your match, I'm going to be going over to that place." Naruto pointed to a building that was visible a distance away from the gym. Bea looked at him, raising an eyebrow at the location that he wanted to head to.

The game corner?

He wanted to gamble?

"You don't want to watch?" Bea kind of wanted him to watch her.

Naruto frowned.

"I kind of do, but there is no way I could resist giving you help or tips, or shouting advice to you... and if I did that, and you took my advice during the battle and won... I think that is kind of cheating. That wouldn't be testing your skills." Naruto knew he had poor impulse control when it came to his mouth, and he wanted Bea to have a genuine test of her skills. As much as he wanted to watch and support her, it was only fair to her that he mind his own business and let her experience this on her own.

Bea extended her hand.

Naruto grabbed it and she pulled their foreheads together.

"Just know, you're going to miss watching me win." Bea stated with confidence in her skills. She looked at Oddish, who seemed pumped to be getting to battle a strong opponent. She was going to be borrowing somebody else's pokemon for the battle, something she had never done before. She was also going to be battling with a non-fighting type.

This was going to be a new and challenging experience for her.

-Later-

Heracross was sent flying.

Bea had her pokemon hit the wall behind her, at a speed that she was forced to cover her eyes as dust flew up into her face. Heracross hit the wall and cracked it, before falling onto his belly, knocked out cold. She uncovered her face as she looked at the Miltank that was standing before her, having unrolled itself from a ball.

Whitney.

The Normal type Gym leader, and she was giving a wide, cocky, and confident smile at her pokemon knocked out Heracross. Oddish had been knocked out by the same Miltank, after knocking out Lickitung, and Bea looked at the absolute wall of a pokemon that took out both of her usable pokemon by itself. The pokemon was barely even injured, despite having taken a direct hit from Heracross.

"You want my advice?"

"No thank you, and thank you for the battle." Bea bowed to Whitney, taking her loss in stride. "I failed as a trainer, and I've seen where I can do better." Bea had a powerful pokemon in Heracross, and Oddish had done well when she controlled him.

The fact was, Heracross did not respect her.

It followed her orders in battle, but there was no trust between them. It followed her orders, but it hesitated to do so. It obeyed, but it only obeyed after thinking about it, and that cost them time. If she was to command Heracross to it's best ability, then she was going to first have to earn his respect. She would blame herself on not commanding Oddish better, since the shiny pokemon was quite strong for it's species. It was a tough pokemon, and she had no experience commanding it.

"Oh... cool."

'Yeah... this is my inexperience. This is why Heracross doesn't respect me... he can sense that I'm not experienced. He can tell that I'm not ready to command him... I don't need to force him to submit or show how strong I am... I need more experience.' Bea corrected her posture and returned Heracross to his pokemon. She bowed to Whitney once more, even more respectfully, before she turned and started to walk out of the gym.

She thought on it.

Naruto and Petilil had such a deep bond, that the two of them didn't even need to communicate verbally during a battle. Petilil just knew what Naruto would want her to do, and she always did those actions. They were experienced with each other, and there was a deep bond of trust and love, but in that bond, Petilil had faith in her trainer's experience.

"I'm sorry Heracross... watch me, watch me improve, and then give me a chance to properly command you." Bea whispered to the pokeball, knowing the pokemon could hear her words.

-With Naruto-

"Just take it and get out, and NEVER come back!"

Naruto had a pokemon egg thrown at his head as he was physically thrown out of the gambling den, with Petilil being tossed out after him. Naruto had been thrown by a Nidoking and Nidoqueen, with their trainers standing behind them in bouncer uniforms. Naruto picked the pokeball up off the ground and laughed.

"Worth it..."

He had always wanted to win SO MUCH at a gambling place that they kicked him out. Since they couldn't kick him out without his winnings, they had grabbed one of the top prizes, a pokemon, and thrown it at him. He had a new pokemon to add to his party once it hatched, and Naruto placed the egg (it was in a warmer) in his bag.

Naruto saw Bea walking towards him.

He hopped to his feet.

"Awesome, just in time, and the winner approaches." Naruto raised his hand up to high five her after what he bet would have been her victory.

Bea stopped walking.

"Actually... I lost... Whitney beat me, but at least I know where I stand now as a trainer. One day, I'll be back once I feel like I've grown." Bea looked at Heracross' pokeball, before she gave Oddish back to Naruto. He accepted the pokemon, and he returned her own pokemon back to her, the trade of their pokemon to each other complete.

With their pokemon returned to each other, they started to walk down the street towards the nearest pokemon center, so that their pokemon could be healed.

'Man, sucks she lost... she seems okay though.' Naruto just felt that Bea was taking the loss harder than she let on, but he didn't want to push her. He was silent as he walked, while Bea was going over the battle in her head. She was very preoccupied with her thoughts, and he would bet that she blamed herself more than she let on. He looked at Oddish's pokeball and put it against his forehead. 'I hope you learned something buddy.' Naruto thought, since no doubt Oddish had gained some experience.

Honestly.

He didn't know how he wanted to train Oddish, and Bea was more experienced at pokemon battles, so he wanted Oddish to get some experience with her. That way his pokemon would know how it wanted to train, since he had only ever trained Petilil before. If Oddish knew how it wanted to train, he could learn from that and train Oddish better.

Bea slapped her cheeks.

"Okay, lets head to Ectruteak, and then to Mahogany." Bea didn't want to spend the night in Goldenrod, not after the loss she had. She was not going to say that out loud though. She looked at Naruto, before she thought of her goal for going to Mahogany. "... and I guess we can stop by the geisha house." Bea muttered under her breath.

Naruto looked at her with a bright, huge, smile.

Now he was REALLY excited!

Chapter End!
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